


A lantern of song in the darkness

by kelmo27



Series: I'll walk beside you over many paths [1]
Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Angst, Blackmail, Heist, I didn't think it was going to turn out to be like this, M/M, More than Cannon Abuse Referenced, Not Beta Read, Past Character Death, Past Relationship(s), Series, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-17
Packaged: 2020-11-15 04:43:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20860442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kelmo27/pseuds/kelmo27
Summary: Blue ran her hands through her short hair and hunched forward just a little, “It came to my attention he had a contract out on me. Probably cause I witnessed what he did to…” Blue swallowed hard, and Adam reached out for her hand.“So he is just going to assassinate you?” Gansey asked appalled. For all his money, a career in politics and mottled history of adventure, Gansey apparently still couldn’t believe there were the kind of people out there that would kill someone. That would hurt someone.“It’s just called murder when you’re a normal person Gansey,” Blue said pulling her lips into a straight grim line.AKA: When Blue's life is in danger the gangsey must reunite ten years after high school and down one member and try and save her life. There is some Blackmail, some contracts for murder and a heist.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back at it again with another fic. This is one fic in a broader series of stories all with an overarching plot. It's a multiverse series, where all of the stories are going to be some level of AU. This fic is completed so I will make regular updates, I'm going away for a week, so you probably won't get the next part until next week (Unless I have stable internet), but it is completed, plus or minus one extra scene I am debating.
> 
> While this is dealing with some heavy concepts my writing style is generally rather light and I won't be going hard angst but the very nature of the concept is gonna be angsty.

Barrington Whelk sipped champagne at a party in an extravagant Ritz-Carlton ballroom. He had worked so hard to make this life for himself. His only goal had been to regain the wealth and status his father's stupid mistakes had robbed from him. All his sacrifices had paid off, and now, none other than Richard Campbell Gansey the III, the son of one of the wealthiest and most powerful Virginia families, lauded his name. All his loose ends were about to be tied up and he would be free to enjoy the praise he deserved.  
  
“Excuse me Mr Whelk?” The grey man asked putting a soft-looking hand to Barrington’s own upper arm, “ A word?” Barrington could see the vacant eyes that made the man so good at his work.  
  
“Of course what can I do for you?”  
  
“I wanted to show you some images of progress on the project you gave me.” Barrington reached for the offered phone where he found a series of ten photos, all various angles of a dead woman.  
  
Barrington’s smile widened and his hands shook a little as he handed the phone back to the Grey man. “Excellent work, you were the right man for the job.” He nodded giddily with relief.  
  
“You won’t have to worry about Blue Sargent causing you any more problems.”  
  
“Excellent work. I’ll call my lawyer and have her transfer the rest of your money immediately.” Barrington said his voice mellow with relief.  
  
"Right now.” The grey man said.  
  
He narrowed his eyes for a second at the impertinence of the hitman. But the smile tugged at the corner of his lips again and he nodded congenially, “Of course.”


	2. The reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What he actually said was that I could look after myself. I’m still mad at you for this little stunt.” Adam couldn’t see the woman behind the words - Behind Calla - but he knew that voice. Calla narrowed her eyes at Adam before she moved to the side to reveal Blue with her hands on her hips, “You were going to go on my Christmas list until you showed up here. The other two dumb asses flew here immediately. So I’m mad at you, but only 25% as much as the other two. Come in.” Blue said throwing her head in annoyance.

Adam lifted his hand to knock on the door of 300 Fox Way. It had been ten years, and yet everything looked the same, in the way that things in Fox Way were never the same from one second to the next. He marvelled at how chaos beyond anything else was unchanging at Fox Way. 

The door opened and Calla Johnson stood in the entrance scowling at him. “I thought you said you weren’t coming.”

“I changed my mind.” When Persephone had come to his small apartment and told him that Blue was in trouble and needed him, Adam had said Blue had always been able to take care of herself and refused to come. He had meant it, it wasn’t an excuse not to come home. Well, it wasn’t just an excuse not to come home. Blue was the most formidable person he had ever met. He still didn’t want to be here but after copious amounts of overthinking, he had wondered how bad the trouble actually could be if her aunt had come to him after a decade. He hadn’t spoken to anyone from high school since the summer after he graduated. The summer Noah died. Of course at eighteen-year-olds none of them had dealt with it well and admittedly Adam didn’t know how much better he might deal with it now. But if Blue really did need him, despite his every effort to disconnect from his past in Henrietta, he couldn’t officially cut her lose, it was one thing to lose contact but to turn his back on her, he couldn’t do that to Blue Sargent.

“What he actually said was that I could look after myself. I’m still mad at you for this little stunt.” Adam couldn’t see the woman behind the words - Behind Calla - but he knew that voice. Calla narrowed her eyes at Adam before she moved to the side to reveal Blue with her hands on her hips, “You were going to go on my Christmas list until you showed up here. The other two dumb asses flew here immediately. So I’m mad at you, but only 25% as much as the other two. Come in.” Blue said throwing her head in annoyance.

“Gansey and Lynch came to see you?” Adam asked throwing a quick look back at Calla who arched her eyebrows at him in a challenge. Ten years and the woman was just the same intimidating creature as when he was a teenager.

“They came alright. And they won’t leave,” Blue said flinging her hand at the lounge room where Gansey and Ronan were sitting together on the sofa. Gansey looked both chastised and delighted in one unique facial expression, and Ronan looked sullen slouching back into the sofa with his arm over the back of the chair. He stared in challenge, directly at Adam which made his heart ache, and feel slightly vindicated, one quickly after the other.

“Well, to be accurate, Jane, I think your mother under-prepared us for the actual trouble you were in. Adam, it’s wonderful to see you.” Gansey said, standing up to offer his hand, with all the gusto and finesse of a politician, which of course he now was. 

Adam shook his hand and nodded at him. “Good to see you too Gansey,” Adam said quietly, against his will, his accent was slipping back into that painful memory from his teenage years. Adam turned his attention to Ronan, and stared back at him for ten silent seconds, “Lynch.” Adam said quietly. He wanted to still be mad at him, he wanted to be bitter and angry and make Ronan feel guilty for the way he’d broken him. But his heart was a coward around Ronan Lynch and refused to feel anything but a painfully over full welling of love. It had been ten years and very little had changed with Adam as well.

“Parrish,” Ronan said his eyes on Adam, none of the old Ronan was there, just blank cool eyes, there wasn’t even any of the fire or challenge of the past. Ten years seemed to have completely changed Ronan Lynch. Adam’s heart constricted in pain and he nodded at Ronan before he turned to sit in the armchair and turned his attention to Blue to ask, “What kind of trouble is it that brings us all here, Blue?”

Blue scowled and crossed her arms over her chest. “It’s not anyone else’s business, I know what I’m doing.”

“Whelk is trying to have her killed.” Gansey offered after a moment of silence.

“What?” Adam whispered in shock. That was a name he hadn’t heard anyone else say in years. The name was a mantra in his head day after day.

“He’s not actually going to kill me. I have a plan.” 

“The plan is not really a plan so much as a suicide mission, Jane.”

“What is the plan?” Adam asked.

“I’m going to kill Whelk first. It’s a life for a life, it’s karmic,” Blue said with narrowed eyes at Gansey and pinched her lips together.

“Alright Maggot!”

“Aren’t you a police officer?” Adam snapped at Ronan.

“Keeping tabs on me Parrish?”

Adam swallowed hard, but hardened his gaze, “Don’t flatter yourself.” Adam said quietly.

“Can’t just call us on the phone you have to creep around the dark web like some kind of pervert?” Ronan sneered.

“Did Ronan Lynch just complain I didn’t call him enough?” Adam asked, a picture of calm, “I think the last time I tried to call you ignored me for… was it ten years?” Adam asked.

“This trip down memory lane is great, can we finish this after Whelk kills me?” Blue sighed with an eye roll.

Adam pulled his eyes away from Ronan, Blue was right there were more important things at stake here than a ten-year-old break-up. 

“Alright. Explain how you found out that Whelk was trying to kill you.” Adam said he was ever the analyst.

Blue ran her hands through her short hair and hunched forward just a little, “It came to my attention he had a contract out on me. Probably cause I witnessed what he did to…” Blue swallowed hard, and Adam reached out for her hand, he could see her back then. The moment Noah had been murdered. He understood what it felt like to be unable to outrun your memories. She clenched her fingers into Adam’s and continued, “to Noah.” She whispered.

“So he is just going to assassinate you?” Gansey asked appalled. For all his money, a career in politics and mottled history of adventure, Gansey apparently still couldn’t believe there were the kind of people out there that would kill someone. That would hurt someone.  
  
"It’s just called murder when you’re a normal person Gansey,” Blue said pulling her lips into a straight grim line. “I’ve been preparing for something like this though. For ten years I knew there would come a day where we’d have to face all of this. Everything he did. I’m prepared, I’m not going to let him take me out until he has paid for what he did to Noah.” Blue said quietly. 

“You know Calla was right to come and get me. I really should arrest you. I at the very least shouldn’t be listening to you plan a murder.” Ronan mused, and then shrugged his shoulders, “I’ve been trying to take Whelk down from undercover. We’ve been on his case for two years. I don’t care how it happens but I want him out of action. He has some fishy business dealings we are looking into.” Ronan said standing up and reaching out a fist for Blue to bump it, “If you can get him faster than I can, I’ll do what I can to keep anyone else off your back.” Ronan offered.

Adam blinked and watched the interaction between Blue and Ronan, the fist bump, followed by watery eyes from Blue who moved quickly and the resulting hug between his two exes. Ronan had never recovered from Noah’s death. Neither had Blue. 

Blue had been there and witnessed Noah being murdered by Whelk, helpless to stop him. No-one blamed her, but Adam knew she blamed herself, being a mirror, she feared it was her powers that had amplified the sacrifice magic and sealed Noah’s fate. They had spoken about it months after the funeral, and Adam had tried his best to convince her she had no blame, but it was clear she still felt at fault.

Ronan, on the other hand, had seen too much death for a teenager and had shut himself off from everyone. Adam couldn’t blame him, he wanted too. For pushing him away, and cutting their relationship off without trusting Adam to help him through it. Ronan had lost his Father, His Mother and then one of his best friends in under five years and Adam knew he couldn’t deal with anymore lose. He’d found out through his searches that Declan and Ronan had gotten over their problems, the Lynch’s all held each other close now. Adam tried to think of that as the silver lining to Ronan shutting the world out. He couldn’t cut his brothers off, he couldn’t cut Matthew off, he had to keep Declan around, but Adam was disposable. Adam had always been disposable.

Adam cleared his throat slowly, and looked into the middle distance, at a blurry nothing of shapes, “I might know something about the embezzling Whelk has been doing for the last four years.” Adam admitted quietly.

“You traced his transactions?” Gansey, the sweet naive man of twenty-eight asked Adam with a voice that was certain Adam was smart enough to have done it.

“No.” Adam said, he turned his head to look at Gansey, “I might be responsible for it.” Adam said pulling his shoulders back.

“You might be-” Gansey said and the sentence petered out as Gansey realised what the rest of the room already knew.

Gansey was rubbing his lip in consideration, “I’m disappointed.” Gansey said slowly, “But I understand why you did it.” Gansey said and leaned back in the chair, “I’ve been trying to find the murder weapon. I thought as I have a knack for finding things, I might have more success than the police. I feel so close to something, but I haven’t found anything for certain.” Gansey said quietly.

“Dick!” Ronan said in amusement.

“Really Gansey?” she grinned, with a warmth that had been missing until that moment, a weight had been lifted off Blue’s shoulders with the confessions, and maybe the hug. “I thought you had all just moved on,” Blue whispered.

“Never,” Gansey said softly.

“I tried.” Adam shook his head though and sighed. “I couldn’t let it go.”

“Remembered.” Ronan quoted the words carved into Noah’s headstone on the first anniversary of his death.

Adam looked up at Ronan, and for the first time, Ronan looked back. The wall had come down a little, and there was a pain in his eyes, and memories he too couldn’t outrun.

“Jane, would you consider a deviation in your plan, with a similar end goal?” Gansey asked. “I can’t help but think, four heads are better than one,” Gansey suggested.

Blue frowned and looked between them before she crossed her arms over her chest, “What do you guys think?” She asked cautiously.

“Do you still dream?” Adam asked Ronan softly.

He gave a quick nod.

“Then I think I might have the start of a plan.” Adam pulled his eyes from Ronan to look at Blue, “A plan that keeps you and Whelk alive long enough to enjoy his sudden turn of fortune.” Adam said quietly.

Blue nodded and sighed, “I have to admit I was looking forward to killing him.”

“If you can resist giving yourself a murder wrap, we might be able to make his remaining years worse than death. Especially for someone like Barrington Whelk.”

“Okay.” Blue agreed.

“What is your plan, Adam?” Gansey asked curiously.

“Are you in Officer Lynch?” Adam asked.

Ronan smirked at Adam and his heart hammered into his chest with its power, “I’m in.”


	3. The moss green folder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> His heart started to beat faster as he wondered if the company had gotten wind of what he had been doing with Whelk’s accounts. He had been very careful not to do anything incriminating on the work computer. In fact, he did nothing but work on the work computer and he had set up so many precautions against him and the world on his home computer that he knew hadn’t been breached so he was fairly certain they couldn’t know what he was doing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, Henry is here and so is a bodyguard. There might be a little space between this chapter and the next because I decided to add an extra scene, but once that scene is complete the rest is good to go.

Adam was trying to focus on the code in front of him and not the illicit plans that he, Ronan, Gansey and Blue had been talking about into the early hours of that morning. He was the coordinator of this work project, an adventurous promotion for someone as young as Adam. He had made all the late nights, over time and endless networking and socialising events - when he’d rather be at home asleep - work for him, and he’d gotten the notice of the right people. For the first time since he had started this project, he found it hard to stay focused.

A hand lightly touched his shoulder, and he startled, even though they had approached him on his hearing side, he hadn’t been paying attention. He swivelled in his chair and looked up at the older man beside him. “I’m sorry did you say something?” Adam asked. He focused himself on what the man was going to say.

“Mr Cheng would like to speak with you. Immediately.” The man said, his voice had an unusual accent maybe somewhere from Great Britain, it wasn’t English, maybe something close to Welsh. It didn’t sound like any accent he’d ever heard really, but it was surprisingly melodic for a summons to his bosses office.

Adam looked around as if this were some kind of social convention he didn’t understand. In his six years working here, he had never seen anyone get personally summoned to Henry Cheng's office. He coughed, and furrowed his brows but nodded, “Of course.” Adam said and stood up.

The other man turned to lead the way, he was a little shorter than Adam and plumper. Not fat, he still looked like he might be able to hurt you if that was what he set his mind to. Adam couldn’t think of a single reason Henry Cheng wanted to speak specifically with him. He had about two bosses between him and Henry Cheng. 

His heart started to beat faster as he wondered if the company had gotten wind of what he had been doing with Whelk’s accounts. He had been very careful not to do anything incriminating on the work computer. In fact, he did nothing but work on the work computer and he had set up so many precautions against him and the world on his home computer that he knew hadn’t been breached so he was fairly certain they couldn’t know what he was doing.

The other man opened the door to Henry Cheng’s office without a knock or any announcement and gestured for Adam to sit in a chair in front of the empty desk. He closed the door and went to stand in the corner of the room with his hands behind his back. Adam sat and looked around the office, it was like a copy of any number of high fashion, classy CEO offices out of the pages of designer magazines. In fact, Adam was pretty sure he had seen Cheng in Vogue Living lounging against this desk, looking the epitome of business chic.

Adam saw Cheng at the all-hands business meetings, and occasionally at some of the smaller project head meetings he had recently started going too, he seemed gregarious and charming, he was a master of applying the right facial reaction to whatever someone was saying, but he never actually seemed affected by anything anyone said to him. Profits were down, Henry Cheng was still as bubbly as a bottle of the finest champagne. They were going to have to fire someone, Cheng was sympathetic and thinking about his next green smoothie for lunch. 

Cheng had created Robo Bee, and the work had launched his company of the same name, which was a huge splash in the tech industry at the time. His technology was out of this world, almost magical. Whoever had created Robo Bee was a technical genius. Adam had spoken to Cheng briefly one on one at the Christmas party two years ago, about some technical development that was promising, (It ended up failing at the integration phase which Adam had predicted), and Cheng had listened intently, pursuing his lips and making noises of agreement or surprise, waited politely for Adam to finish speaking, complimented him on his hair and sashayed away. Robo Bee was the work of a genius, but Adam doubted that genius was Henry Cheng.

The door opened and Adam turned his head to his left. He was deaf in his left ear so he compensated visually, as best he could. Cheng wasn’t speaking but his lips were moving in a wide and welcoming grin. Adam briefly wondered if Cheng was a sociopath, and would smile while pulling out his fingernails. They couldn’t be in this sudden and urgent meeting because things were great and Adam deserved a raise after he’d just gotten a promotion. This was definitely bad news, whatever it was, and it was higher level bad news since Cheng felt the need to deliver it personally.

“Adam Parrish, I’m so pleased to see you. I’ve been keeping an eye on your work. Absolutely amazing. Above par. You should have got that promotion sooner. I can’t wait to see what your project looks like when you’re finished. Such a breakthrough in intuitive computer intelligence, how incredible would that be?” Cheng asked sitting in his office chair and smiling widely at Adam.

Well, it sounded like Adam might leave the office with a job, which for Adam Parrish, and his poor, unstable trailer park childhood, came with an intense feeling of relief, he dropped his guard after that. While Adam had been offered other positions managing projects bigger than this, with pay cheques bigger than this. Adam actually liked the projects Robo Bee were developing they had a solid heartbeat of social and environmental awareness and reinvestment. Whatever Cheng was going to say next wasn’t the worst-case scenario, so Adam could handle it. “Thank you, sir, I’m very excited by the implications,” Adam said and leant back in the chair.

“I’m pleased. Hopefully, that excitement will keep you working for me, long after I blackmail you about Barrington Whelk.” Henry said with that same smile and a glint in his eyes.

Adam froze and cast quickly analysing blue eyes at Henry Cheng’s unwavering smile and serious dark oak coloured eyes.

“I don’t understand,” Adam said quietly, no hint of surprise in his voice, which was probably spoke more of his guilt than his words.

“You have been embezzling Whelks money into several private offshore accounts, haven’t you? I’m pretty sure that’s what the intel says, let me check.” Henry pulled out a large green folder and thumped it on his desk. No, it wasn’t green it was moss coloured, with ‘Blackmail’ writing in black glitter glue on the front of it. Adam felt like he was falling down a glitter-covered rabbit hole to a strange wonderland of corporate embezzlement, blackmail and jail time.

Adam cleared his throat and by the same mechanic tried to clear his mind. He wasn’t sure what his next move was. He was a pretty good liar, but he didn’t know what Henry was looking at in that folder. Something pulled at his gut, and Adam was grimly certain that this wasn’t a bluff. 

“I’m sorry, could you explain yourself, Sir?” Adam asked weakly.

“Ohh come on,” Henry said, glancing at him with a warmer, but less intense smile than the one he had entered on. “If we are going to commit a major crime and destroy people lives together I think you can probably call me Henry. Do you prefer Adam or Parrish? I see here Lynch the policeman, calls you Parrish exclusively, is that leftover from the relationship that didn’t work?” Henry schooled his face into a pout, “Sorry about that, he’s attractive. But he is single, from what my information says, maybe you two can try again after we ruin Whelks life?” Henry offered and reached out to pat one of Adam’s limp hands. Adam briefly thought about pulling his hands off the desk but decided he was better to conserve his energy to extradite the others from whatever this had become.

“How do you know about my past with Lynch?” Adam decided to go for something true, but not criminal.

“I know all about everyone’s past. Blue Sargent, who by the way is just a lovely woman, I went for a reading at her place, her mother and aunts are great. That told me how I was being haunted by a bloody past. Have you had a reading recently? You should go.” Henry flicked a page in the folder and sighed, “It was a really lovely visit all in all. She’s still doing well though? I mean breathing and uninjured?” Henry asked lifting his eyes back to Adam and then he laughed, “I’m joking I know she is, it’s in the folder.” Henry grinned.

“What do you want?” Adam asked tired of the games and sick to the stomach at the thought of something happening to Blue because he handled this poorly.

“I want to put Whelk away for the rest of his life. I want to ruin his reputation in business so no-one will ever trust him again even if he manages to get out of jail, that’s what I think Gansey Boy would be the most useful at, don’t you think? I have to admit I like him the most from what the intel tells me about you four. Which I guess is odd, since he’s the most innocent out of all of us. He would have been better as an academic, then a politician wouldn’t you agree? I suppose the death of a best friend changes a lot of things, hmm? Not that he doesn’t make a great politician, I actually think he’ll do good for this world, if you can believe it. After all of this, he’ll be getting my campaign donations.” Henry was still flipping through the pages of his goddamn folder.

“Okay. I’ll help you.” Adam said straight to the point, he didn’t want to know Henry’s terms, he just wanted to keep his family as far from the fall out as possible. Gansey would get out okay. Ronan could lose his job, the one thing that seemed to have brought light and purpose back to his eyes since he’d lost everyone. Blue could lose her life, and the ripples that would have would be unstoppable, and he was going to do what he had to do to get them out and safe, he’d been in positions he hated before, but he’d gotten out of it, and he’d get out of this one too.

“I’m so pleased Adam,” Henry said stopping his flicking through the folder. “I had a whole speech about how everyone you love would suffer if we couldn’t make an arrangement, but the information tells me you are very smart, maybe the smartest of all your friends. Maybe the smartest at this company. I like smart people, I was raised by one. So let's destroy Barrington Whelk, shall we? It’ll be like a movie, Lynch can be the getaway driver, I read about his time in high school. What a firecracker.” Henry grinned.

Adam sighed and he looked to Henry, “Whatever happens you keep the rest of them out of this, promise to keep them safe and I’ll do whatever you want.”

“Well I mean, that’s not-” Henry frowned. “Adam, you don’t seem to understand.” Henry for the first time in the entire time Adam had known of him, looked to his bodyguard with a confused raise of his eyebrows.

“Henry has set this entire thing up. The breadcrumbs that led you to start embezzling, the whispers that started Gansey on his search, the glowing recommendations Lynch needed to have his juvenile record overlooked for the police academy- That was all Henry’s doing.”

“What?” Adam hissed.

“I have been at this for about nine years. Would you believe I actually started Robo Bee because I wanted to hire you to work here, so I could keep an eye on you? I know, it’s genius.” Henry said smiling again.

“I-” Adam didn’t know what he was hearing, it sounded insane. Maybe Cheng was actually insane.

“Ask me why I would do that Adam.” Cheng prodded Adam.

“Why did you do that?” Adam asked.

“My parents are very wealthy. I’m sure that’s common knowledge. My mother was very good with money, exceptionally good in fact, I’ve never met anyone who could turn a dollar into a thousand like my mother. Money does strange things to people, especially people who want that money. Desperate people who desperately want money can be dangerous. That’s how I was kidnapped at ten-years-old. I learnt a lot from the experience don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t all bad. My therapist says it’s probably one of the reasons I am such an accurate judge of character, which is great in the business world, and in dating, although I’m still looking for the one,” Cheng pouted at that, which Adam was slightly relieved by, it gave him a second for his brain to process all the information Henry was giving him. Adam was starting to seriously think Cheng was a sociopath, being kidnapped as a child would certainly mess someone up.

“The kidnapper tried to negotiate a ransom with my mother, but as I said, the woman is magic with money, and she wasn’t too bad at prioritising the big picture. She told the kidnapper I was less of a priority than the money he was asking for. Don’t worry we have a wonderful relationship now, she had a good reason behind it. He ended up getting about $10 000 out of her, for my return. For some people that would be enough to make a good start in the world right? For someone like you Adam Parrish, I’m sure $10 000 would have catapulted you on a journey of even more success. Some people, unfortunately, aren’t as smart or resilient as either you or I. Barrington Whelk is one of those people. He squandered the money he earned from my kidnapping and had to launch another get rich quick scheme. The one your friend Noah didn’t survive, I’m so sorry by the way, for your loss.” Henry said, his face again made up of all the right angles and shapes of sympathy.

“You seem to have made a good life for yourself since the kidnapping, is it for vengeance sake you want to destroy him?” Adam couldn’t dismiss that as an unhealthy motivation it was what he and his family were all stoking the flames of their plans on, ready to live or die to get revenge for Noah.

“No, my therapist is very into forgiveness for the sake of yourself. I forgave Whelk a long time ago. However, no matter how wonderful my life is, and it’s really great in case you were wondering, I still wake up every night, sweating through my $8000 sheets with that persistent memory of standing endlessly in a tiny hole, being told I was going to be killed, and every night it’s a different version of how he is going to torture me if my mother doesn’t come through with his money. I need to finally put an end to this and I think the only rational thing left, after doing all this work on myself to get through it, is to destroy his life so completely that he lies awake in a tiny jail cell every night afraid of me and what I could come back at any time and do to him. You know?” Henry asked quietly.

Adam understood Henry Cheng a lot more then he had before he walked into this office, he reminded him in many ways of Gansey, always putting on a charismatic face no matter what was in his way, not because he didn’t care, but because he didn’t have any other way to cope with what was going on. He reminded him of Ronan, plagued by dreams of horror that weren't his fault and that he couldn’t stop, constantly having to grasp for control wherever he could safely find it, like compiling unbelievable amounts of information on people before blackmailing them. He reminded him of Blue, just wanting to put a full stop on the haunting tragedy of his past at Whelk’s hands, even if it was crazy, or criminal. Cheng had exhausted all other options Barrington Whelk was a demon he couldn’t exorcise, so whatever the cost, he would pay it, to have closure. He reminded him of Noah, an innocent victim of Barrington Whelk’s selfish, criminal mind that had stolen Henry’s peace of mind, and Noah’s life. He reminded him of himself, trying to fight a battle alone, knowing it was too big to manage on your own, but not knowing how to reach out and ask for help, so instead just simply closing off inside, or blackmailing your employee. Maybe he wasn’t entirely like Adam, but he could understand his motives now.

“I will work with you, Henry.”

Henry brightened up like the sun rising, “Really, really? Or are you just going to tolerate me, and try and keep me out of the loop, which would be a stupid move, Adam Parrish.” Henry warned.

“I can see that.” Adam gestured to the folder. “We have the same goal. As long as I can trust you, not to put any of the others in hot water, we can work as a team.” Adam agreed.

“You don’t want any such assurance I won’t bring trouble to your doorstep?” Henry asked.

“I have already brought trouble to my doorstep, I accepted that every step of the way, there is nothing you can do to me that I haven’t already accepted as a possibility,” Adam said. Henry cocked his head like a border collie.

“What makes you think I’m not lying about them, I mean I’m not lying by the way.”

“You think you’re the only person in this room who has blackmailed someone Henry?” Adam asked without a hint of threat in his voice.

Henry turned to look at his bodyguard again, the corner of his mouth was turned up in a grimace, and he shook his head, before catching his bosses eye and nodding.

“Neil, my bodyguard, is going to be my go-between in this situation, we can’t just suddenly start hanging out before Whelk is ruined, it’ll look suspicious, so give Neil all the information you have for me, and he will be my proxy, he will answer questions on my behalf okay? He should probably spend time with Ronan, he has previous military skills and will accompany Ronan when he arrests Whelk. Is that okay?” Henry asked for the first time.

Adam rubbed his temple, “I’ll have to check with Lynch, he’ll resent it, I’m almost positive, but we’ll make it work.” Adam said slowly.

“Great. This worked out great. I was a little nervous.” Henry chuckled. “Well, I have a hot yoga class to get too. Thanks for seeing me Adam, I’m glad we got all of this sorted out. Neil will come with you at the end of work so we can get started.” Henry gestured to his bodyguard.


	4. The Logistics of the future and the past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam’s eyes flashed, and he had a feeling that is exactly the reaction Ronan wanted, “He has a folder, filled with all of our wrong doings. The folder is filled with where we went to school, who we dated, our parents names, the first cars we ever owned. Everything. There is nothing we have been doing, or done that he doesn’t know about.” Adam snapped.
> 
> Ronan narrowed his eyes and tightened his lips, “So what? He’s blackmailing you?”
> 
> “Mmhmm. None of us will get out of this unscathed.” Adam said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: There is a description of what would consider an extreme family violence situation. A character explains the situation of family abuse. It is three-ish paragraph long but if this is triggering stuff you can skip it. It starts after this paragraph with the end sentence "Adam snapped after another thirty seconds of silence." and if you scroll to the first sentence of the paragraph " “Stop.” Adam snapped, every part of him reverted to the child" you will have avoided it.
> 
> Okay, so I didn't originally have this scene in the first version of the story. I felt like it needed another scene to deal with some stuff, but now I'm in two minds as too whether I should have skipped it or not. It hasn't been proofread or edited, so all mistakes are my fault, and I apologize.
> 
> From here on out the rest is written and I'll probably post every other day until it's finished.

Adam stood in front of Ronan’s door, his heart lurching in his chest. If they weren’t being blackmailed then Adam could convince himself he wouldn’t be here. He wouldn’t be feeling this way. All of these feelings were supposed to be left in the past and he wasn’t supposed to be thinking about Ronan like this after only a few months of reacquaintance. He had buried his first love in his ambition and the more mature comforts of long term relationships. Like his two year relationship with Sam, the vivacious and talented sculptor, who had been patient and attentive while Adam had been studying and working his way to his future. Like his five year relationship with Jessica a junior district attorney who had been as focused on her career as Adam had been on his.

Ronan had been his first love but Adam had convinced himself they were too young to really ever have been more. A rare kindness to himself after years of believing that it was Adam who was disposable. Adam was replaceable to someone like Ronan Lynch who held the people of his past so tightly that even death and Declan Lynch couldn’t tear them from his grip. Ronan had let Adam go like he had let Aglionby go, neither of them had proven worthy of his devotion, Adam swallowed bitterly and knocked on the door. Their past wasn’t important. Blue’s future was. Everyone had to move on. That was the point.

Ronan opened the door in a pair of black jeans and no shirt. “Hey,” he said before stepping back to let Adam enter. “What’s going on?”

“There has been a change in the plan.” Adam said forcing himself not to look at Ronan, not to slot his naked torso into flushed memories of their distant past. Adam cleared his throat and muttered, “Can I get a glass of water?” He suddenly felt thirsty he was afraid he might melt or burst into an ash cloud right in front of Ronan.

Ronan went into the kitchen and came back with a glass of cold water, which Adam was particularly careful to take without touching his hand. He gulped the water down, and put the empty glass on the coffee table, moving behind an armchair to give himself some space to explain the situation. 

“Henry Cheng knows what we’re doing.” Adam said.

“Who the fuck is Henry Cheng?”

“My boss.” Adam shook his head and closed his eyes, “it’s a long story. But he wants in, on what we are doing with Whelk. He has his reasons, and I can’t say no to him.” 

“Can’t or won’t? Don’t want to lose that promotion.” Ronan sneered.

Adam’s eyes flashed, and he had a feeling that is exactly the reaction Ronan wanted, “He has a folder, filled with all of our wrongdoings. The folder is filled with where we went to school, who we dated, our parents names, the first cars we ever owned. Everything. There is nothing we have been doing, or done that he doesn’t know about.” Adam snapped.

Ronan narrowed his eyes and tightened his lips, “So what? He’s blackmailing you?”

“Mmhmm. None of us will get out of this unscathed.” Adam said.

“Fuck him.” Ronan said suddenly and as reckless as he had been at eighteen.

“He could ruin Gansey. He knows about the hit on Blue.” Adam said bluntly.

Understanding flickered through Ronan’s eyes and he cursed as eloquently as ever, “So what does he want?” Ronan demanded.

“He says he wants the same thing as us. He wants Whelk put away for the rest of his life. He claims that he set all of this up so we’d reunite to bring Whelk down. He says he’s been planning this for almost ten years. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but he has the information to back us into a corner.” Adam admitted.

“So what does that mean?” Ronan demanded sitting on the edge of his sofa.

“He wants us to work with his bodyguard, Neil. He wants him to be the go-between so that he’s not connected to us in any way.” Adam sighed and leaned forward on the back of the armchair, “He wants you to make Neil passable as a cop.”

“The fuck?” Ronan demanded and then softly, to himself, “Neil?”

Adam suddenly realised why the bodyguards' name held significance to Ronan. “I didn’t think about your father,” Adam said quietly.

“It’s a common name, why the fuck would you think about it?” Ronan said and shrugged. He ran his hands through his shaved head. Adam had seen pictures of when he had grown it out, never back to the full curls he’d heard about when Ronan was fifteen, but enough to cover his head, Adam suspected it as for one of his cases. It was hard to see Ronan in any way other than the eighteen-year-old boy he’d once loved.

“I don’t think I can pass him off. How the fuck am I going to do that?” Ronan demanded.  
  
“You’re a dreamer you can do anything you set your mind too.” Adam reminded him.

“There are a lot of things I couldn’t do.” Ronan said and cast his eyes straight into Adam’s.  
  
Adam held his gaze for uncomfortable seconds before he stood up and broke the stare. “Maybe I should have said anything you care about, you work out,” Adam said and crossed his arms in front of him building his wall back up.

“Is that what you think?” Ronan asked quietly.

Adam huffed, his skin prickled and he hated this conversation, it was fine to think about this endlessly in his head, but he didn’t ever want to have this discussion with Ronan. He didn’t want to remember any part of his past with Ronan, it was intertwined with the pain he had learnt to block out. He refused to go back there again. If they went back they would never be able to work together to help Blue out.

“I can see what I can manage to do as well. Maybe throw in a recommendation or two from Gansey or Cheng, something to legitimise his record.” Adam shrugged violently, trying to maintain the illusion of his indifference while also trying to shrug Ronan entirely off his shoulders.

Ronan was still staring at him, when they were young, and together, it didn’t take much of a spark to start a fire in each other, and a cruel word or tone had been enough to shut one of them down while the other banged against their walls trying to breakthrough. This wasn’t like that. This was a steady and calculated demand for Adam to give Ronan his attention, for them to talk about what was under the surface. Adam wasn’t going to heed the request. He refused to have this out. He was over it. He had moved beyond Ronan Lynch, he wasn’t going to allow himself to be drawn back into any part of him. The mystical pull that Adam had never been able to work out if it was Ronan the dreamer, Ronan the man, or Ronan the lover. It all called to Adam who had always had a spine of steel, and he refused to acknowledge it, he just stored all of it in a little box, and marked it do not open, and left it in his stomach, never to be explored.

Adam walked back and forth slowly behind the armchair, using it as a wall between them. “Stop it.” Adam snapped after another thirty seconds of silence.

“When I was a rookie and wasn’t really sure I wanted to be a cop, it was just something to do, we were called to a mansion where a man was holding his wife and kids hostage. They had to call in a negotiator, and it took hours to talk him down, three days. Eventually, he surrendered and allowed his wife and kids out of the house. He had two boys, the little one came out crying and clinging to his mother, his older boy was eight and he wasn’t crying. He shrugged off help and stood silently beside his mother and brother. They said he was in shock, but I could see him, closing down boxes in his mind, placing the experience away. I could see him preparing for the next time. He didn’t think it was an end, just a pause.” Ronan explained.

“Stop.” Adam said his whole body rigid.

“That kid, that kid was the reason I stayed and worked harder then I knew I could work. That kid reminded me of you, what you must have been through.” Ronan said softly.

“Stop.” Adam snapped, every part of him reverted to the child who hadn’t been able to escape his childhood, the child who the police could never help. Long closed off parts of him screamed to be heard, to be acknowledged, and Adam was instantly shaky with overwhelm, trying desperately to put all of those memories back in their boxes to lock them so they could never come out.

“Adam.” 

He could see a hand coming towards him from his peripheral vision and his face snapped in its direction. He took in Ronan's face, older, more angular, more mature and his eyes flashed. The hand stopped moving immediately and pulled back. “Fuck!” Adam snapped, for a brief second his temper flooded every part of him, he wanted to punch a wall, he wanted to put his own head through the wall, he wanted to vent the rage he had modulated into perfect control all these years, the boxes were rattling wanting out.

Adam took a deep breath, and straightened up, he didn’t look at Ronan again, he simply turned and walked out of the door, closing it softly behind him. Outside he took another deep breath, willing his hands to stop shaking, internally chaining the boxes that had rattled the loudest, as he forced himself to walk carefully away.


	5. The Heist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gansey glanced at the closed ballroom doors and then back to Whelk making sure his smile hadn’t moved, “As a token of our genuine appreciation for all your help we have a small gift from everyone involved in this project. Would you mind coming up here to receive this wristwatch?” Gansey put the microphone down on the table and picked up the gold wristwatch, in the branded case of a very exclusive jeweller.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should the actual heist have been longer, for sure, was this whole fic originally only meant to be 1000 or 2000 words? Yes it was. Is this all you're gonna get in the way of the actual heist? Highly likely. I hope you enjoy.

**Adam**

The Gansey’s were known for hosting parties that were the peak of every campaign season. You were considered part of the elite if you were to receive an invitation to Senator Gansey’s home, or her son Representative for the first congressional district of Virginia. The latter of the two was the host of this elaborately planned party in the ballroom of the Ritz-Carlton. Adam was mingling amongst lawyers, politicians, business executives and all the relevant wives who attended such things. There would be no reason for Adam to be here if he wasn’t an old family friend of Richard Campbell Gansey the III. He tried to keep that to himself as much as possible he didn’t want too many people at the event equating Adam and Gansey too closely. He wanted to be non-memorable. He had one hand in the deep pockets of the suit Henry Cheng had insisted he wear, and if Henry did not have the ability to blackmail him, and also fire him, Adam would have been wearing his own, preloved suit.

Gansey was also mingling with far more ease and practise then Adam had ever had. Gansey was born and raised to this. It was part of his illustrious inheritance, people liked him because he was a Gansey and because he was a Gansey he made everyone feel seen by simply acknowledging them. Adam had so desperately searched for acknowledgement when he was a teenager. Adam looked at his watch it was 8 pm and Whelk had shown up about an hour before, it was just about time for their plan to kick into action. He put the glass of champagne he had been nursing back on one of the passing trays and made a slow walk around the ballroom to see if he could see the signal.

A man about the same height as Adam brushed past him and Adam turned an apology on his lips, which froze there when he took in the completely normal-looking man, is a grey suit, who was making a beeline for Whelk. It might not have been so noticeable if Adam’s whole body wasn’t thrumming in an effort not to pay attention to Whelk. Adam looked at his watch again and then looked into the crowd to catch Gansey’s eye. He nodded and then carefully made his way out of the ballroom.

\- - -

**Gansey**

Gansey pulled his smile firmly into place and cast his full attention to the woman who had been telling him something about the symbiotic relationship between poverty and laziness. Gansey reached a hand out to touch her wrist and murmured a warm excuse and left with a promise to talk with her again soon. Gansey made his way to the front of the Ballroom and took a few deep breaths to calm his nerves and make himself look busy. He got a buzz on his smartwatch notifying him that Adam had felt sick and had decided to get a cab home.

Gansey cleared his throat picked up the microphone and switched it on, turning to look at the huge crowd of people, refusing to cast his eyes towards Whelk who he knew stood alone, probably feeling smug and untouchable. Gansey asked for the attention of everyone in the room and proceeded to make a speech about the great work his team had been involved with recently. “The morale of everyone in the community has vastly improved, and all of this wouldn’t have been possible without the truly generous donations of Mr Barrington Whelk if you could all give a round of applause. The centre for youthful offender reintegration has been a major success.” Gansey turned to gesture to Whelk, and the crowd of very important, wealthy and influential people turned and gave him the polite and dignified applause he was playing off modestly. One Hundred Thousand dollars worth of applause.

Gansey glanced at the closed ballroom doors and then back to Whelk making sure his smile hadn’t moved, “As a token of our genuine appreciation for all your help we have a small gift from everyone involved in this project. Would you mind coming up here to receive this wristwatch?” Gansey put the microphone down on the table and picked up the gold wristwatch, in the branded case of a very exclusive jeweller.

\- - -

**Ronan**

“That was the signal,” Neil said quietly, as Ronan opened the arrest warrant and gestured to the squad of his fellow officers behind him, nodding to Neil who, he had managed to disguise as a cop while they served the warrant. He’s been awarded the warrant with some very carefully structured papers from his dreams. They had been easy enough to produce along with the piles of evidence proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that Whelk had been embezzling money from his company’s and storing them in his wife’s name for the last four years, the paper and tech trail already prepared by Parrish.

Neil pushed the doors to the ballroom open with as much force and noise as he could manage and then disappeared out of formation into the crowd. Ronan raised his voice and called as loudly as he could, “Barrington Whelk you are under arrest for embezzlement of no less than four billion dollars.” It wasn’t strictly necessary or really even entirely appropriate to call out his crimes so loudly and openly, but they needed people to act in a very specific way and they weren’t going to get that by quietly arresting him in the corner of the ballroom somewhere.

“Excuse me, this is a private function!” Gansey said a look of confusion and consternation on his face.

“We have an arrest warrant for Barrington Whelk, he is a perceived flight risk.” Ronan continued as he marched up the middle of the ballroom, people dressed in lavish suits and voluminous dresses parted like he was Moses. He leapt up onto the small stage, they had set up specifically to be a spectacle and held the warrant out to Whelk. “Barrington Whelk, you are under arrest, anything you do or say can be used against you in a court of law,” Ronan said and pulled his handcuffs out. He’d been trained to be better prepared than this, to have someone on his side to train a gun on Whelk, and another with handcuffs while he held the paper, but he needed this to be messy. “We will have to confiscate all your belongings-” Ronan started, stepping forward with handcuffs in hand.

What Ronan had not been prepared for was to be pushed suddenly into Gansey from his right side, and to recover in time to see Neil bending over with Whelk’s fist pressing a handle into his stomach. “Shit! Man down!" Ronan called, he wasn’t playing a game anymore, he scrambled over to Neil and tried to get a look at his stomach. “Shit!” Ronan said again, he looked up into Neils blue eyes and frowned, “We’ll get you an ambulance right away.” Ronan said pulling his bulletproof vest off in a frustrated grunt, and then his shirt after it, pressing the shirt against the bleeding wound in Neil's stomach.

\- - -

**Neil**

He’d never been stabbed before, he’d experienced a whole variety of pain but watching Ronan Lynch panic as he watched yet someone else die in front of him, made his heartache the worst. “This is not-” He hissed in a deep breath as pain rocketed through his body. “Not your fault.” He struggled not to close his eyes. “I made this choice. I’d do it again-” He trailed off as he waited for the shiver to rack through his body, he wasn’t sure if he was going into shock or it was the blood loss.

He turned to see the figure of a grey man close in on him, he smiled just slightly and started to relax.

“Come on man. You’ll be fine the ambulance is on its way.” Ronan promised.

“Croesodd sawl canrif, fesul fflam, curiadau calon cytseiniaid, yn llusern o gân yn y duwch.”

“What? I don’t understand.” Ronan said his brows furrowed. “Just hold on man. Come on. It’ll be fucking alright.”

“Heartbeats went in unison through many centuries, like flames, a lantern of song in the darkness,” The grey man said softly, appearing from nowhere.

“I need you to hold on. I can hear the ambulance now.” Ronan hissed desperately.

“I dreamed of death as noble as this.” He said before he closed his eyes, and let death welcome him back again.

\- - -

**Henry**

Henry shuddered in relief when Adam pushed the door to a cabin in the woods open and closed it behind him. He had worried that Adam wouldn’t be able to find it. It was covered by magic, and Henry had struggled to find it with a map and specific instructions. “Are you okay?” Henry asked, the effusive personality was gone and in its place was this Henry Cheng. The real Henry Cheng. Scared, upset, and desperate to finally end this chapter of his life.

“Everything went according to plan. Gansey and Ronan should have played their parts and if they let Whelk escape he should be on his way here now.” Adam said.

Henry nodded and hovered around the entrance for a few moments, it was a macabre place, a cabin in the woods covered by magical means, and housing all the evidence of all the crimes Barrington Whelk had committed from the time he had first been able to commit crimes apparently. Richard Campbell Gansey the III was an exceptionally talented man, perhaps it was his interest in history, or maybe it was just a knack he had for finding things as he insisted. All the information Henry had found he hadn’t known about the murder cabin.

Henry didn’t want to die here with the closest thing he’d ever really had to friends with him. He didn’t want to keep living the way he had been. The nightmares were starting to affect more than just his sleep, he relived all the trauma almost daily. Haunted. “Are you sure this is going to work Adam?”

“We have psychics remember? And if all else fails we can summon Blue Sargent from the dead to avenge us too.” Adam said with a gallows kind of humour that Henry did not appreciate. 

Henry was about to say so when Barrington Whelk dishevelled in a tuxedo with blood on it burst into the cabin and took one look at Henry and Adam before he lunged across the room for a gun.

\- - -

**Blue**

Whelk swung the gun on both of the men and didn’t even give a warning before he pulled the trigger, the gun clicked, the barrel empty. Henry flinched and Adam stared at Whelk as if his stare could penetrate into his soul. Only Barrington Whelk didn’t have a soul, he must have sold it along with anything else he could get his hands on. Only someone soulless could kill someone as vibrant as Noah Czerny.

Whelk scrambled at the workbench for any of his other previous murder weapons and Blue stepped out of the shadows and brought the skateboard in her hands down across the right side of his face with as much force as she could manage. She loomed over him, skateboard in hand as he fell to the ground.

“No! You’re dead!” Whelk cried out, his voice was comprised of a tinge of madness, the rest was fear, Blue grew stronger from it.

“You had me killed, didn’t you? Like you killed Noah?” Blue said quietly.

“I saw the pictures, you were dead. I just saw the pictures.”

“The Grey Man isn’t as good as he used to be, is he? Since he settled down, fell in love?” Blue asked.

“No!” Whelk screeched, as he realised he’d been double-crossed.

“This is the end of the line. You thought you’d get away with killing Noah?” Blue asked. “Kidnapping a ten-year-old boy?” She added, she watched his eyes shoot to Henry Cheng, and her heart ached at the look they shared.

“No. No. Please don’t kill me. I have a family. I have children. Please, I’ll do anything. Please don’t kill me.” Whelk begged, and Blue finally saw the surrender, the fear, and the realisation on Whelks face. It wasn’t for all the reasons that she’d hoped it would be, but he had finally realised he had lost.

“If you had asked me three months ago, I would have laughed as I squeezed the life out of you, watched the light die in your eyes the way I had to watch Noah’s. But that was three months ago, and I am not going to sacrifice my soul for someone like you. Henry is not going to lose another minute of sleep over you. Anyone you victimised, is never going to have to fear you again. The legal system is wrought with failures, but it’s the best we have, and we are going to make sure you live long enough to see your name crumble into dust, as it did with your father before you, we are going to make sure every one of your crimes comes out, and that no-one will say the name Whelk without disgust in their eyes. You are going to jail for the murder of Noah Czerny. We have irrefutable proof.” Blue said.

She leaned forward onto her knees, “Be careful Blue.” She heard Adam warn softly.

“And if we don’t have enough proof, we’ll make enough proof. That wife and kids you were talking about, how badly do you want to protect them?” Blue whispered. “We can make this case as public as possible. We can make sure your name is synonymous with the worst of humankind. See how long you can last.” Blue whispered, and slammed her palm into his nose, feeling it break under her hand before she stood up, while Whelk howled on the floor.  
“I think it’s time to call in the police,” Blue said softly.

“Is it time Henry?” Adam asked, turning to look at the other man.

Henry wasn’t looking at Whelk, he wasn’t looking at anyone. He had his head turned to the side, away from Whelk and he closed his eyes and breathed a breath so deep it sounded like it came from centuries ago. “It’s time.” He agreed.


	6. The Resolution Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Neil said something before he died. It was in Welsh but Dean told me it translated to something like hearts beat together through centuries and light up the darkness.”
> 
> “Oh,” Adam said softly.
> 
> “I’m not a coward Adam,” Ronan said and finally looked at Adam in the eye.
> 
> “I know,” Adam said quietly.

Adam closed the door of his small apartment, he was never one to be frivolous even though he was making decent money now, he didn’t need many luxuries. He needed a shower. Dean was the one to deliver Whelk to the police station with the evidence they had compiled and some that they had fabricated. Dean assured them in his line of work he knew people on both sides of the thin blue line. Adam made sure the newly ‘alive’ Blue was delivered to Fox way where he had found Gansey speckled with blood. Gansey had quickly explained the situation and Neil’s death in Ronan’s arms before the paramedics could get to him.

Adam picked his cell up and wondered for the fiftieth time if he should call Ronan and see if he was okay. Was he overstepping their boundaries? They weren’t friends anymore, they had just orbited each other for the last few months in an attempt to pull off their plan, his plan, and Adam had almost got Ronan killed. He had gotten Neil killed. He’d be able to think better when he was clean.

He came out of the shower fifteen minutes later warm and flushed, and he was able to think better. He needed to call Ronan. Yet another person dying in front of him, no matter how much distance was between them, he had to make sure that Ronan wasn’t doing anything stupid. He secured his towel around his waist and went to look through his frozen meal options in his freezer he decided on the ravioli. He should probably call Ronan first. He should probably be dressed when he called Ronan. He grabbed his phone and a bottle of water and before he could move to his bedroom, he heard a knock on the door. He wasn’t used to having visitors, he was too much of a workaholic to have people stop by without plans.

He anchored his hand to the knot in his towel and went to the front door to look through the peephole. Adam made a small ‘oomph’ and scrambled to unlock the door pulling the door back enough for Ronan to enter, “Come in. I was just going to call you.” Adam said quickly, closing the door behind Ronan and turning to look at him, “Gansey told me what happened, I-” Adam didn’t know what to say to that. He could apologise, he could say he was worried about Ronan having a mental break down, that he was pleased he wasn’t currently in a fugue state, that he didn’t really know if he was allowed to be concerned about him anymore.

Ronan’s eyes darted in distraction to his towel, and even though there wasn’t the slightly level of heat to the gaze, Adam flushed all over and gripped the towel tightly. “Uhh, I’ll just go get dressed, there is water in the fridge if you wanna help yourself,” Adam said and marched quickly into his bedroom pulling on underwear, sweats and a soft t-shirt. He came back out shaking the water out of his hair. “I’m sorry about that. How are you?” Adam asked Ronan who hadn’t moved.

“Neil said something before he died. It was in Welsh but Dean told me it translated to something like hearts beat together through centuries and light up the darkness.”

“Oh,” Adam said softly.

“I’m not a coward Adam,” Ronan said and finally looked at Adam in the eye.

“I know,” Adam said quietly.

“I know you don’t believe in things like soulmates,” Ronan added. “But ever since I met you, you have always been a mirror to my soul. I don’t know if we’re ‘meant to be’ but I see myself with clarity when I’m around you. I see all of me in the sound of your voice when you’re tired, and the arch of your eyebrow, and your laugh.” Ronan grunted frustrated by words, despite being well versed in three languages he had never really understood how to express himself in words, not when the underlying feeling was so important.

Ronan was moving around the room now in tight and tense little circles, “When we broke up, I know everyone thought I was just being dramatic and pushing you away because I couldn’t communicate. It wasn’t that. Your ambition is one of the things I fell in love with. You’d made enough sacrifices and I wasn’t going to let you make another one for me. I wasn’t going to drag you down into the hole I was heading for.” Ronan said cracking his knuckles.

Adam let those words wash over him for a few moments trying to comprehend everything that had been opened in thirty seconds. He crossed his arms over his chest and said slowly, “That wasn’t your choice to make. I have a right to decide what I do and don’t give to someone. What I want to sacrifice. I thought you knew me better than anyone.”

Ronan looked at Adam for a few minutes and slashed a smile at him, “I did know that. I do know it. I wasn’t holding applications for the chance to ruin your plans. I couldn’t force myself to balance on the edge of constantly pretending to cope. I didn’t want to have to lie. I needed to get back to the Ronan I was when I knew you. I never wanted you to meet who I was after dad’s death. Do you understand? This wasn’t about taking away your choice, it was about making my choice. Deciding love meant I had to let you go and heal because I wasn't in a space to heal.” Ronan said quietly.

Adam sighed he didn’t like it, he didn’t like what Ronan was saying, and he still felt like it was Ronan pushing him away because he was self-destructive, but it had been ten years and it didn’t really matter anymore. “I think I understand what you’re trying to say, I don’t agree with it, but I understand,” Adam said quietly.

Ronan nodded at that, “That’s all I wanted. I just wanted you to know.” Ronan said quietly.  
“How are you doing, Ronan?” Adam asked again quietly.

“I’m shaken up. My skin feels like it’s crawling and like I might explode but, I don’t feel like I’m on that edge anymore.” Ronan said.

Adam nodded and said, “Gansey is with Blue at Fox Way, and Henry was going to deal with Neil’s affairs. I was about to microwave some Ravioli, I have lasagna and a beef cannelloni, you wanna stay for some terrible frozen dinner?”

Ronan gave Adam an assessing look for a few moments before he grunted and nodded, “I’ll have the Ravioli.” Ronan said.

“I’ll have the ravioli. You can have the lasagna.” Adam ordered.

“You’re going to make me eat shitty processed lasagna when you’ve actually tasted my hand cooked lasagna? You sadist.” Ronan scoffed.

“Cannelloni?” Adam offered.

“Ravioli?” Ronan asked with a glint in his eyes.

Adam looked at him for a moment and then a grin spread across his face, “Okay, but only because you almost died, since you couldn’t even follow the plan properly.” Adam said.

“You’re the fucking psychic, maybe you should have factored all of this into the murderers resume.” 

“I can’t hold your hand with everything, aren’t you supposed to be a cop?”


	7. The Haunting of Henry Cheng

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Henry slumped onto the bar stool in his expansive apartment and he looked back at the one page in Neil’s file. “Someone has to care that he’s dead. I never should have hired him.” Henry said softly, he slumped onto the kitchen counter and pulled his arms around his face for shelter. He’d only known Neil slightly longer than the others, and he had no information about his next of kin, or what to do with him. Someone must have loved him.

Henry slumped onto the bar stool in his expansive apartment and he looked back at the one page in Neil’s file. “Someone has to care that he’s dead. I never should have hired him.” Henry said softly, he slumped onto the kitchen counter and pulled his arms around his face for shelter. He’d only known Neil slightly longer than the others, and he had no information about his next of kin, or what to do with him. Someone must have loved him.

Henry sighed and after a few moments stood up his shoulders still slumped with the full night's activities resting on them. “Are you happy now?” He asked and stretched his arms backwards before coming to sit on his sofa looking into blue eyes. “No-one was supposed to die,” Henry said with a pout.

Noah twisted his lips and seemed so much calmer and present than usual. “Neil was there to help, he served his purpose exactly how he said he would.” Noah reminded Henry quietly. “He told us he wasn’t afraid to die.” Noah reminded him.

Henry frowned at him, “Everyone’s afraid of death, even if they aren’t afraid of dying. He must have been in so much pain. I never expected he would actually die. What were all the psychics for?” Henry accused.

“It’s not so bad being a ghost sometimes,” Noah said with a grim smile.

“Did you get what you wanted from all of this? You were the mastermind behind this whole thing. Are you happy now? Do you feel avenged?”

Noah swallowed and reached out to put a cold hand on Henry’s own. “It was never about revenge Henry. Not for me, not for you. Not really even for them in the long run.” Noah said softly. “They were all so broken when I died.” Noah’s voice was getting wispier and faded as he remembered his death. “They would have kept spiralling until there was nothing left for any of them to lose,” Noah said softly. “I miss them every day but I can’t let them follow me here, no matter what.”

“Why did you appear to me then? Why not just show up and impart some ghostly wisdom on them without this master heist?” Henry asked.

“You needed me as well. I’ve seen your nightmares, I know what he did to you.” Noah said quietly.

“I didn’t need my vengeance Noah, that’s not how I was going to get through this. I was going to overcome him by myself.” Henry whispered.

“I know you didn’t need revenge, that’s not what this was about.” Noah reminded him gently, “You live in this mausoleum trying to live your life the way your parents taught you to. Armouring yourself inside and out from the threats you can’t see yet. Being ever vigilant, cutting yourself off from any feeling that might put you at risk. You aren’t either of your parents Henry. You need people. Not vacant smiles and handshakes at dinner parties, and employee’s that indulge you to keep their jobs. You will never be safe from risk, but with friends, you have more energy to sustain yourself through it. I couldn’t let you become a shell of what you could be. It would be worse than dying. You have a bigger heart then I did when I was alive, it’s your job to share it with the world, despite the risk. But I didn’t want you to do that alone. Now you have insulation, warmth, support, all the foundations of something to last generations.” Noah curled his hand into Henry’s.

Henry swallowed a lump in his throat, blinking his eyes a few times, “I don’t know if you know this, but blackmail doesn’t make a good foundation for friendship.”

“It’s a better foundation than nothing.” Noah smiled. “You’ve never met anyone like my friends before. Neither had Colin Greenmantle.”

“Colin Greenmantle?” Henry asked wetly.

“Did I not tell you the story about Adam and Ronan blackmailing Greenmantle? It’s great! Creepy… actually…” Noah said rethinking his original statement.

“Will you leave now?” Henry asked, turning his hand around to clasp Noah’s.

“I don’t know,” Noah said quietly.

“I wish you would stay,” Henry said.

“I’ll stay as long as I can,” Noah promised. “I think it’s time to tell them about me too,” Noah added.

Henry nodded slowly, “I need to sleep first.” Henry said pulling his hand away standing up a mask back in place.

“Sweet dreams,” Noah whispered.


	8. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it. This is the story. The Epilogue is an almost entirely self-serving attempt at the context for the series of fanfictions not actually much to do with the heist.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the story.

Adam of Usk came back to death with a gasp. He could still feel the now phantom stab wound in his gut. He forced himself to sit up despite the pain and groaned.

“You had to have yourself killed?” The voice from the shadows demanded a wounded fury in his voice.

“You know better than anyone, that they would never have spoken about it if something dramatic hadn’t forced them to it,” Adam said getting up on his feet.

“What is your obsession with dying?” His voice growled.

“Myself dying is not the worst thing to happen to me. It’s not even the worst thing in this last century.” Adam said taking a step towards the voice. “You could have gone if you preferred.” 

There was a grunt of frustration and a chair flew across the room and splintered and Adam pushed his hair back and took another step forward. “You know you’re just going to have to make that again,” Adam said nonplussed.

The black clothed figure stalked out of the shadows his blue eyes glaring at Adam, the pain vibrant and fresh in his eyes. “I won’t help you do this ever again if you are going to die again.” Ronan Fitzalan snarled spit flying to express how genuinely furious he was.

“I’m sorry,” Adam said softly.

Ronan stalled suddenly, his anger impotent and confused and they stared at each other. “What?” Ronan hissed as if he suspected a lie.

“I’m sorry Ronan. I know why you hate it.” Adam said quietly. “I know.” He emphasised.

Ronan’s shoulders curled forward and guilt replaced the fury. “I hate it. I hate this. This is hell.” Ronan whispered.

Adam reached his hand out towards Ronan’s face curving but not touching Ronan’s cheek. “But at least we’re together,” Adam said.

“It’s not the same. I can’t touch you. I can’t be with you like I always dreamed, we are stuck in this cursed world, you’re so close and I can’t even-” Ronan cut himself off, but he tilted his head towards Adam’s hand, keeping the space between it, Adam’s hand moving and gentling around it. “I sometimes think it would be worth the pain to touch you even for a second,” Ronan confessed.

Adam’s eyes frowned at the sentiment, and he ran his hand down over Ronan’s shoulder and down his arm, the space felt cavernous between Ronan’s skin and his palm, “If there was anything we could do to break that curse, I’d do it too.” Adam assured him. “But until then, the closest we can get is to make sure all the other versions of us, all the little pieces of our souls all over the multiverse, get the chance that we didn’t take.” Adam swallowed hard, and pulled his hand back, pulled back into himself. 

This might have been hell to Ronan, but being here with Ronan even with their limitations was closer to heaven then Adam had ever thought he would get. Hearing about Ronan’s death when he had been alive was a hell he had survived for thirty years, now he knew as much as he knew any of the mystery of this place, that he could never lose Ronan. They could never have claimed each other in life ‘Til death do they part’ but in death, they had been joined forever, never to part.

“Don’t die again.” Ronan said softly.

“I promise.” Adam said, something he had never done in his life. Adam didn’t believe in promises, he didn’t believe in the false hope contained in those little words that were so effortless to destroy. 

“I’m sorry, I followed his orders, and that I didn’t take your advice,” Ronan said watching their past play over Adam’s face.

“The great and powerful, mighty defender of Wales was as much a brother to you, as your brothers were. I always knew you would follow him to the grave. Your loyalty was always your strongest trait.” Adam shrugged Ronan’s apology off.

“Adam.” Ronan called.

Adam didn’t respond, he was looking into a large basin of black water, “Who is next?” Adam asked instead.

“I’m pretty sure that’s your job, magician.” Ronan said gruffly coming around to the other side of the basin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adam of Usk was an actual human, although I doubt very much like this one. Ronan Fitzalan was not but I sort of bastardized him and his family from a Fitzalan that actually did exist.
> 
> Also, Neil was a reference to Niall. And yes I say Nye-al not Neil when I read the books, but the audiobooks say Neil and that actually worked better for me in this story.


End file.
